


Curiosity Killed the Cat

by RadioFlower



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Gen, Steampunk, automatons, character backstory, fanbot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-12-06 12:28:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11600655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadioFlower/pseuds/RadioFlower
Summary: Natalia is like your ordinary girl, she has hobbies, gets injured and is curious about everything. She seems absolutely normal, until one day when a stranger attacks her, sending her life upside-down. She ends up in the Steam Powered Giraffe universe and meets the bots, learning more about who she truly is.(The 'graphic violence' is a little stabby stabby that happens in the first chapter and is mentioned a bit in the first part of the fic)





	1. The Coffee Shop

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, so suggestions and critiques are highly appreciated!

It was a day like any other, but I had decided to venture outside for once, I was not exactly the most social of creatures. I had come up with the idea to go sit at the local coffee shop and observe people during the after-dinner hours. My friends had disapproved of my outdoor adventure this late in the evening, but I assured them that I’d be fine, and stepped out into the world, ready for anything, or so I had thought.

I had made my decision already, and nothing could stop me once I got an idea. _I’ll just pop into the local coffee shop and get a bagel and some coffee. I can sit in the corner and quietly see the whole shop from there._ I walk down the road, gleefully noting the setting sun and make a sharp left into the coffee shop, almost passing it in my wonder at the sunset. Walking in the door I find myself in a relatively short line. While I wait I look at the shop around me. The actions of others had always confused me, _why would someone sit around and talk with people who offered little in the ways of information. I can’t do anything with the fact that this one guy is cheating on his girlfriend with this random guy._ I could however explain the process of sword forging after sitting down with a weapon smith who had seemed glad to have someone interested in his trade. _You never know when the world could end and we’d have to rely on medieval weaponry again._ While I ran through this internal contemplation, the line had quickly shortened and I was the next to order.

It is around 8pm when I finally sit down with my coffee and bagel. I had found a comfy chair in the corner of the coffee shop. The walls are a lovely shade of burnt orange that reminds me of autumn, and bookshelves line the corner I’m sitting in. The shop has a pleasant atmosphere, very welcoming with the warm smells of baking goods and fresh coffee. While eating my bagel, I feel someone’s eyes on me. Shaking it off as I am sat in the book corner, I assume someone is inspecting the shelves. I wait for a few more minutes and glance up when the feeling doesn’t leave. Noticing a man in dark clothing across the room, I shiver uncomfortably as we make eye contact. He appears to go back to reading a newspaper and I put the uncomfortable feeling aside as being unreasonable. _I’ve never met that man before, why should I be worried about him?_ I think, going back to my bagel and leaving my coffee to cool down. As I finish the bagel, the unease gets to a point where I decide to just get up and leave with my coffee. _I’m probably just nervous about something,_ I think, stepping out the door, coffee in hand. I fail to notice the strange man who was now following me out of the coffee shop and down the street. I obliviously and happily walk toward home with my new tail following me at a distance.

I hear footsteps approach me quickly and step to the far right of the sidewalk, assuming there is a runner behind me. A hand pulls me into a side alley and I see the hooded man’s face in the last lights of day, his mouth spread into a cruel grin and eyes looking down at me hungrily. I see a glint of metal and in terror raise my arms defensively. A searing pain runs through my arm as the attacker slashes at me, drawing wicked blows that seem to shred my forearm. The pain shocks me and while I’m distracted by the sudden large amount of blood coming from my forearm, he takes another stab at my torso, this one finding itself between two of my ribs. The pain and shock from the attack coupled with the loss of blood from my arm cause me to slump against the wall of the alley. The only thing that saves me from further attack is a burst of adrenaline which causes me to shoot up from where I had leaned onto the wall, and out onto the main street, using the last of my energy to get into the nearest shop. I can feel my thoughts slipping away, becoming slower as I calm down from the wave of adrenaline.

_What is this feeling, it's like a force trying to say something, like that word on the tip of your tongue but you can't figure it out?_ I’m no longer looking at my world, but there is darkness, and what seems to be words flashes in my mind. "ERROR. ERROR. WARNING: CRITICAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED, SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN." The words are no more than a blur now, distant thoughts of fears, questions and errors, but a feeling of cold, suffocating darkness becomes almost tangible. The feeling threatens to surround me, and my mind is dulling. The senses I have left are fading and I give up on trying to stay conscious. The darkness is coming, it threatens to claim me, tugging away at the edges of my very being. A pang of sadness is the last thing I feel as it pushes me down, out of the warmth and into cold, lonely and complete darkness…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_I'm conscious? What is this feeling._ The fear is back. _Why wouldn't it leave me alone?_ I was fine where I lay, in the thick, oily, oozing darkness. My mind jolts back to the previous day. _You idiot, couldn't you have just stayed inside instead of trying to learn more about others? Wait... Wasn’t I stabbed?_ I realize that I’m forming thoughts, even after I assumed I had died. I feel the fear wave over me again, almost challenging me to defeat it. That need to survive, pulling and tugging at me, as though trying to pull me from where I lay, willingly drowning in darkness. I feel something calling, almost a yearning in my soul for something. I instinctively try to reach out, but my arms feel as though they've been weighed down. Using every ounce of my strength, physical and mental, I slowly try to lift my arms towards that feeling. I reach towards that little thread of warmth and light that can pull me back to where I belong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime Later...

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. _Ugh, not the best sound to wake up to_ , I think sluggishly. It takes a second, but my memories come back. I feel a searing pain in my left arm, almost as if someone took a hot knife to it. _Oh, that’s right._ I internally groan and scold myself for walking home alone. I'd confirmed everyone’s worst fears and caused them trouble. _Wonderful_ , I think sarcastically. I don't want to open my eyes. I fear the worried look in the eyes of all my friends and family. Hesitantly, I open one eye just a bit, to see if anyone is around. I wince at the soft yellow light coming from above. _If anyone was in the room they would have noticed that,_ I remind myself. Opening my eyes, I blink until they get used to the light. Looking around, I notice wires, a few cards and... _What's that_? I turn my head slightly to get a better look at the table next to me. _Is that...? It is..._ There is a computer monitor hooked up to my arm and sitting on the table staring at me. If it could talk I would probably be getting sarcastic remarks on my hair or the state of my health. _Oh, my arm._ I look down at the damaged arm. I see a slightly stained bandage running from my elbow to my wrist, a faint blue glow shimmering where my arm had been cut. _Is it glowing?Well I still have both hands, at least I think I do_ , I grimace at the idea of trying to use one hand to do everyday activities.

"You're absolutely sure this is her?" One voice in the hall questions sternly.

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain. Look at her face, it has to be her, what else explains-"

"Not here," The first voice cuts the second off curtly.

I tap my fingers against the bed and sigh impatiently, waiting for the two strangers to enter the room. After a few moments of silence, the door clicks open and a nurse pokes her head into the room. She ushers the pair over to where I’m sitting on the bed. I glance up from the bed, curiosity getting the best of me. My mouth drops open. One of the men standing in front of me appears to be made of copper, with wires behind the metal plates making up his face. His eyes shine blue, like my own, and as I make eye contact with him he looks away from me.

I cross my arms defensively and look over to see his seemingly human companion inspecting my face intently. I clear my throat and catch the attention of them both.

"Am I supposed to know the two of you?" I say softly, raising an eyebrow at them both.  

"Right, introductions. I'm Dr. Malum and this is Brian. You've probably not heard of us, but we help people like you." His voice identifies him as the first man talking in the hallway.

_This seems too weird_ , I think confused. I lean slightly towards Dr. Malum, inspecting his face for any signs of a lie. "What exactly do you mean by 'people like me'?" Dr. Malum gestures widely and a bit too dramatically towards his copper friend and I tilt my head, confused. "I don't understand" I say, impatiently unfolding one of my arms to tap my fingers on the bed, but keeping the bandaged arm close to my chest.

"Haven't you wondered what’s under that bandage?" Brian asks softly, suddenly finding his voice. He holds out his hand stiffly and I look down at his hand and then back up at his face before hesitantly putting my bandaged arm near his hand. "May I?" He asks, I nod slowly and he carefully unwraps the bandage.

When the bandages are fully removed I notice a glint of metal that makes me freeze. I forget both men standing before me as I focus on the clean cut on my forearm. Tilting my arm in shock I inspect the cut. Wire appears to run back and forth beneath the skin, a metallic bone glistens at me from under it. The doctors hadn’t even bothered trying to stitch it up, and I could see a slight white line on either side of the gash where the skin had knitted back together. Taking this all in, I glance back at the vital monitor on the table and suddenly notice it doesn’t show a heartbeat. My brain doesn’t quite process what everything means. _It can’t be possible, I’m a human. Wouldn’t I have noticed before?_ I ask myself, still trying to understand the situation.

Dazed, I zone out while the doctor says something about automatons and magical energy called blue matter, which just confuses me more. While in this spacey state, I agree to go with Dr. Malum back to his lab, hoping that maybe science will be better able to convince me of what was happening. Brian just watches me with what I would assume is the robot version of pity written across his face.


	2. Maybe I'm Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I redid all of the wording to be in first person instead of second person.

“What do you mean I need to leave? I just got here!” I exclaim at Brian, confused. Dr. Malum and Brian had checked me out of the hospital, the staff letting me leave due to my non-human nature. It had taken about an hour of driving, but the pair had brought me to a large building that looked vaguely like an old asylum. The trees surrounding the main building were dense with leaves, and vines crawled up the sides of the buildings, a stark green contrast to their red brick. Dr. Malum had led me inside and up a set of stairs to what appeared to either be a laboratory or a mechanic’s workshop. Between the number of tools strewn on the ground, and scientific equipment on the counter, I couldn’t tell which it was.

I lean on the counter, tilting my head at Brian as he urges me to leave. “It’s not safe, that man is not who he seems. He doesn’t have good intentions, you need to leave!” Brian continues.

“Why didn’t you warn me before?” I counter, disregarding the urgency in the robot’s voice.

“He would have shut me down if I had tried to warn you,” Brian insists before spinning around and walking out the door, leaving me to mull over the situation. I had come to terms with the idea of being a robot, but hadn’t really thought about what that truly meant. _Could someone really just shut me down without my permission?_ I wonder. Luckily and yet unluckily I would learn the answer to my question very soon.

Dr. Malum enters the room with what looks like a medical bag under one arm, and a computer under the other. He sets them both down on the counter next to where I lean, watching him. “Alright, I want to try and hook you up to this computer to see if we can learn anything about your coding.” Dr. Malum says, ignoring my stares.

“What do I have to do?” I ask, ready to get this over with so I could go home and think over what happened.

“I’m going to need you to pull your hair away from your neck for me.” I obey what he says to do and feel an odd click near my hairline. “Now hold still for a minute.”

The world goes black. I attempt to move and find myself unable to move my body. Panicking I thrash about and find myself greeted by an interface. It seems to be an index of some sort. I will one of the tabs to open and see pictures of my life scrolling past. The interface glitches and suddenly I no longer control that either. _This man is really starting to piss me off_ , I think as a cursor clicks through program and personal files. The cursor pauses over one with an odd name. _Do all humans have something called curiosity.exe?_ I consider this and draw the conclusion that other humans are probably actual humans and not robots, and therefore don’t have programs. Dr. Malum seems to have found something of interest, as the cursor hovers over a folder before clicking into it. “Self-Destruct, Manual Control, and Corrupt Systems” are listed under the many programs. The cursor lingers over a program reading “Wipe Memory” for a few seconds too long for my liking, and I decide that I am going to leave as soon as possible. The doctor closes out of the interface and the cursor disappears, leaving me in darkness.

After what seems like an eternity I feel someone unplug the cord connected to my neck, and I start to regain control of my body. I open my eyes, ready to reprimand Dr. Malum for not asking me before shutting me down. Fortunately, the doctor is nowhere to be seen, and I am greeted by the welcome site of Brian freeing me from the computer. “You need to leave, before he comes back and tries to take your core.” Brian pleads with me.

“What do you mean take my core?” I ask, confused.

“Imagine a robotic heart, but it runs on an endless energy source that is extremely valuable and sought after. It’s what keeps you alive,” explains Brian. “Without it you die.”

Suddenly leaving doesn’t sound like a bad idea. “How do I get out?”

“Go back down the stairs and to the left, head straight out the blue door.” Brian says, hope in his eyes. He opens the door and looks down the hall. I approach the door and he steps back from the door before pushing me into the hallway. “He’s headed back this way, go now!”

I don’t have a chance to argue as I hear footsteps getting closer. I take off down the hall and suddenly the footsteps are running after me. Now thoroughly terrified and not ready to die, I find the stairwell and descend as fast as possible. Reaching the ground level, I hesitate, trying to remember Brian’s directions. _Ok, I remember a blue door, but which direction do I go in?_ I silently curse myself for not paying better attention and turn to my right, heading down the hallway. Spotting a blue door, I send out a message of hope to the universe that this is the right door. I quickly step through it, slamming it behind me and pressing my back against the door, hoping I wasn’t followed.


	3. Penny for Your Thoughts

Eyes squeezed shut, and back to the door, I stiffen when I hear shouting. Realizing the voice is a female, I open my eyes and gasp at the scene in front of me. The landscape is vastly different from the one I had just been in. There is a beautiful duck pond surrounded by flowering plants, and a large house with oddly shaped windows. A woman wearing a white lab coat with bright blue hair is watching me from across the garden. She shouts again, “How did you get here?” I turn around to look at the door, and step back, realizing I was standing against the door to a shed. Looking back to the woman I realize she’s heading my way. I go to meet her halfway before I stop and look up. “The sky is blue.” I state, confusing the woman.

“Yeah, it generally is. So how did you end up in our garden?” She asks, looking me over.

“I believe I came through the shed door. I thought the sky was always purple, how could it be blue? This is still earth, right?” I had never seen a blue sky before and the idea of a blue sky was making me a bit dizzy.

“Yes, this is indeed earth, but our sky has never been purple. Maybe you’ve come from an alternate universe where earth has a purple sky,” the woman said, looking deep in thought. I think she is a bit crazy, other universes don’t exist.

“I’m Walter Worker Robin, by the way. Welcome to the Walter Manor.” She says gesturing towards the large house. “We deal with almost everything, ranging from automatons to alternate realities”

“You have automatons here?” I ask, suddenly curious. _I wonder if they could help me learn about what I am,_ I think. _Robin seems to know what she’s talking about._ As if to answer my question, a silver man appears from inside the Walter manor. He gives me an odd look, and I look from Robin to the robot. The silver man walks over to the two of us and addresses me as he approaches.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m the Spine, I was built with a titanium alloy spine” he says, spinning around to point at the blades sticking from his back. He turns and reaches out a hand to shake mine. I shake his hand and greet him.

“My name is Natalia, but everyone calls me Nat” I say, delighted to meet him.

“May I ask what happened to your arm, Natalia?” The Spine says, pointing to the bandage on my forearm.

“I was attacked by a strange man with a knife.” I state bluntly, looking down at the ground to avoid seeing either of their reactions to this statement.

“Would you allow me to look at your wound?” The Spine says, voice soft with concern. I look up to see a motherly concerned expression on his face. Raising an eyebrow at him, I turn to Robin and open my mouth ready to ask her what was going on. Robin responds before I have the chance to ask.

“The automatons in our manor are all trained in first aid, and its part of their programming to try to help people that are injured.” Robin explains. I turn to the Spine and look at him suspiciously, before reluctantly unwrapping the bandages and holding out my arm for him to inspect. I marvel at the fact that the skin had knitted almost halfway shut in such a short period, and the Spine gently turns my arm intrigued by what is exposed by the cut.

“You have wires and metal where there should be flesh and bone,” The Spine observes. “Are you an automaton too?” He asks, this time it’s his turn to raise a mechanical eyebrow. I hadn’t noticed it before, but his eyes seemed to glow green. I give a small shrug and Robin rushes over, taking my arm and looking at it herself.

“I guess? I just found out about this yesterday when I was attacked.” I respond, trying to not become overwhelmed by the sudden reminder that I wasn’t a human, and that this isn’t my home.

Robin looks up from my arm with wide eyes and whispers, “We need to take you inside to meet Peter.” Not waiting for an answer, she pulls me towards the house. I send a helpless look to the Spine who nods reassuringly and follows us both. Entering through the back of the house I find myself in a hallway full of doorless rooms. _I need to ask about that later,_ I think as I peer into each doorway I walk past. Towards the end of the hallway the area opens into a large room with a grand staircase leading to the upper floors. Before I reach the larger room however, I happen to bump into another robot. Somehow, both the robot and I had managed to time it perfectly, so that Robin was ahead of me, and the automaton had exited a room right as I walked past. We both fell to the ground, and I could have sworn I heard Robin giggle as she turned to make sure I were okay. As I go to get to my feet a copper hand reaches down to pull me up, the automaton had stood up quickly and was offering me her hand.

“Heya I'm Penny, nice to meet you and sorry for running into you” she says, grinning. Her purple eyes are stunning, the same color as the sky at my home. Taking her hand, she pulls me off the ground and I laugh lightly about the whole situation.

“Hello Penny, I’m Natalia, but please call me Nat! It was nice to bump into you,” I say, excited to meet the female bot. Robin rolls her eyes at the pun which goes completely over the Spine’s head, and pulls at my arm, leading me up the main stairs.


	4. All Things Sparkly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bots and Walters have put up the most amazing Christmas decorations, and this cat is determined not to act like one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't updated this fic in a while, and I'm in the Christmas spirit, so it's suddenly Christmas time at Walter Manor, thank you to the magic of writing for making this possible. The next couple of chapters will probably be Christmas, I've already chopped up the content I had planned for this chapter, so the next chapter is already half done, woo!

The awe in my face is evident, my eyes flying wide as I gaze up at the magnificent tree. The tree itself seems to have come out of a holiday movie, the branches reaching high and heavily weighed down with fake snow and sparkly ornaments. The way the light glints off the tree makes the main hall look like it is covered in glitter. 

Actually, now that I look at it, the hall might actually be covered in glitter. I spot a robot who seems to be pulling handfuls of glitter, of varying pastel colors, out of a hatch in his chest. He grins at me and tosses another handful of glitter at the tree, as I look on in confusion. Penny pulls me out of my shock, dragging me up the stairs, and stops next to the tree for a moment before grabbing a handful of glitter mixed with fake snow from off of the tree. 

"Hmm... You could use a little holiday cheer!" Penny exclaims, dumping the handful of glitter and fake snow onto my head.

"Thanks, I guess," I say in a very unenthusiastic voice, before gesturing towards the glitter tossing robot, "who is that?"

"That's Hatchworth, he's quite the silly one isn't he?" Penny looks up at Hatchworth while I mumble under my breath about oddly named robots. "Hey Hatchy! Come meet Nat, she's pretty cool!"

"You've known me for like five minutes" I say, nudging Penny, who looks at me mischievously. 

The robot called Hatchworth approaches, a bit of tinsel hanging from the pipe that sticks out of his hat. He sticks out his hand and says, “Hello there, watch out for the badgers! Oh, my name is Hatchworth, nice to meet you Nat.”

“Umm… Hi, I guess. My full name is Natalia, but Nat is fine too.” I look at the bottom of the stairs, where Robin has appeared. She shakes her head before climbing the stairs.

“We need to get her to Peter,” she says firmly. She takes my hand and pulls me through a doorway next to the tree, and up a few flights of stairs.

“So who is this ‘Peter’ anyways?” I add air quotes around the name, trying my best not to be nervous about this mystery person or robot. This whole situation is just overwhelming. One minute I’m drinking coffee, and on my way home, and the next minute I’m in a world with a blue sky, seemingly independent talking robots, that I happen to be one of, and a huge mansion with no doors. Honestly the whole sky-is-blue thing is what has me the most confused. I vividly remember sitting down to watch the sunset in a purple sky, all my childhood drawings and even the shows I watched had a purple sky. Maybe this sky is just a very blue shade of purple, but that wouldn’t explain why Robin had agreed that the sky was blue, she didn’t seem to think it could be any other color. 


End file.
